Ringgold: A few MLB ballparks I would like to resurrect

Thursday

Jun 14, 2018 at 12:01 AM

This week's column came as an inspiration while listening to the radio broadcast of the Chicago Cubs versus the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.

Listening to the Brewers' feed, I heard a segment where listeners can e-mail the booth a question. It may not necessarily pertain to the Brewers, but baseball in general, and the announcers do their best to come up with an answer.

Well, the question posed on Wednesday was along the lines of, "If you could bring back any old Major League Baseball ballpark or ballparks, which ones would you bring back?"

Great question. The Brewers' announcer (not Bob Uecker, by the way) gave a few of his answers and also mentioned a few other ballparks he would not bring back.

So, that got me to thinking, what would be on my list? What old ballparks would I love to see make a comeback in the modern era?

Even though it was well before my time, I've heard about the legend of Ebbets Field, the home of the former Brooklyn Dodgers. It's been known for its quirky dimensions, its blue-collar atmosphere and the great players who were on that field (namely the immortal "Boys of Summer" teams in the late 1940s to early 1950s).

Ebbets Field was also known for its entrance rotunda (the New York Mets' current home, Citi Field, has a similar rotunda that pays homage to Ebbets) and the various advertisements on the outfield wall. One in particular implored batters that if they hit that particular sign, they would win a free suit (in the first few years of the Texas Rangers' then-Ballpark in Arlington, there was a similar sign on the scoreboard).

Of course, if you bring back Ebbets, you've got to bring back the ballpark the Dodgers' bitter rivals, the New York Giants, played in, the Polo Grounds, a legendary venue in its own right. It was where Bobby Thomson hit "The Shot Heard 'Round the World," where Willie Mays made the iconic catch in the ’54 World Series and where the expansion 1962 New York Mets bumbled their way to a bunch of losses, yet the fans still loved them anyway.

At the Polo Grounds, you could poke one out to the corners in both left and right field, but if you slammed a shot to deep center, more often than not, it would just go for a long out.

And to complete the New York trifecta, you can also bring back the original Yankee Stadium. Not the renovated version from the late 1970s, but the original, with its vast and seemingly endless left-center field alley, where the monuments stationed in front of the outfield wall were in play.

Another ballpark that closed before I was born was Cincinnati's Crosley Field. Crosley also had some interesting dimensions, and in its latter years, had an incline in left field (it was the inspiration for the center-field hill the Houston Astros utilized in their current ballpark before doing away with it a couple of years ago).

If I were to pick a few ballparks I remember seeing on TV to make a comeback, at the top of the list would be Detroit's Tiger Stadium and Chicago's Comiskey Park.

I remember Tiger Stadium for its deep center field and the numerous amount of bleacher seats in the outfield. Also, Tiger Stadium's press box was very close to the field, so much so that on a day in which the attendance was sparse, players were able to hear the announcers.

Comiskey Park's charm largely came from the mind of the former legendary owner of the White Sox, Bill Veeck. He was the one who created the exploding scoreboard, which carried over to the team's current ballpark, and even installed a shower beyond the outfield fence where fans could cool off on a hot day. Veeck also helped create the famous "sing-along" seventh-inning stretch announcer Harry Caray became famous for, especially after Caray left to take over behind the mike for the Cubs.

Another thing I liked about both Tiger Stadium and Comiskey Park that you don't see much of nowadays: The home runs that landed on the roofs of those venues, whether it was off the bat of the Tigers' Cecil Fielder, Ron Kittle of the White Sox or even Reggie Jackson's memorable blast in the '71 All-Star Game, which was played at Tiger Stadium.

As a youngster, I thought there was something really pretty cool about a home run landing atop the bleachers in the outfield.

While the Houston Astrodome had its faults, I would love to see the Astrodome back as a baseball venue. Just to see the Astros play in their rainbow uniforms underneath that iconic roof. Or even replay the memorable scene in the sequel to "The Bad News Bears."

You know the one. Let them play, let them play.

Among the parks I would not bring back are the standard multi-purpose "cookie-cutters" from back in the day. Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Vet in Philly. Busch in St. Louis. Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium.

And I would not want to see another incarnation of Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Only at The Stick would you have to bundle up in layers for a game in July and August because of the evening cold and the swirling winds.

Unfortunately, in a couple of years, I may have to add the Rangers' current ballpark to the list of baseball stadiums I would like to see make a comeback. In 2020, the Rangers are moving into a new park with a retractable roof.

While that may come as a welcome relief to many, especially when the Rangers are playing games during the dog days of summer, it's going to be hard to see what is still considered one of the best ballparks in the country, the original Ballpark in Arlington, meet the fate of the wrecking ball after opening in 1994.

It will also be at the top of the list after the Rangers open their new park, of places I would like to bring back. I would rather bring back The Ballpark over Ebbets, the Polo Grounds or any other now-defunct MLB venue, to be quite honest.

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